


Day 6—Battle Wounds

by protectignisscientia



Series: Gladnis Week 2017 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Dom/sub, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Language, M/M, a bit of dirty talk towards the end, alcohol mention, drug mention, once again implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 21:05:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12968409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protectignisscientia/pseuds/protectignisscientia
Summary: Gladio takes a hit for Noctis and Ignis is there when he wakes up.





	Day 6—Battle Wounds

**Author's Note:**

> Ages:  
> Gladio - 21  
> Ignis - 20
> 
> This lovely picture served as inspiration for me, so be sure to reblog it if you enjoyed my fic!  
> http://hanatsuki89.tumblr.com/post/167920452853/i-love-the-they-put-you-to-sleep-in-order-to

He hadn’t been there. That was the first thought—no, not quite. The first thought that had raced through Ignis’s mind when Clarus called him about the attack had been “Is he alright?” The question had of course come out “Are they alright?” because Gladio hadn’t been injured over something involving just himself. No, he’d been protecting Noctis from a drunk they had passed by on their way back to the Prince’s apartment. It was a lovely summer evening, so they’d opted to forego the car and enjoy the fresh air. But the second thought to race through Ignis’s mind hadn’t been a lament over that decision and how having taken the car would have prevented all of this from happening in the first place. No, the second thought had been much more upsetting.

Gladio had been hurt, and Ignis hadn’t been there.

But what would he have done, had he been there?

That was a question that remained unanswered even after hours had passed sitting at the Shield’s bedside in the private ward of the hospital while he waited for his other half—his better half—to wake up from the anesthesia. Clarus and Noctis had both reassured Ignis that Gladio’s unconsciousness was medically-induced and not a result of severe trauma or blood loss. He had simply been put under because, as Clarus had put it, “My idiot son insisted stitches weren’t necessary and kept trying to get up.”

That was also a question that remained unanswered even as Ignis gave in to the exhausting day. His work had been no less taxing than usual, and then Clarus had called him about the attack just as he had been on his way home, so he’d had no chance to rest before fatigue had been overridden by panic. Ignis fell asleep while still trying to figure out what all he was going to say to his boyfriend when the man finally returned to them all, cheek nestled against a bent arm and hand clasped around Gladio’s own.

And finally, that was a question that remained unanswered even when Gladio woke up before Ignis. For a few horrifying seconds, he had had an internal meltdown over his vision being half what he was used to it being. Then, Gladio remembered what had happened. He also remembered his eye somehow escaping damage, remembered his vision being blurred by (involuntary, dammit) tears but still present. It was just a bandage, then, and the young Shield would see out of his left eye again. Good.

Gladio’s right eye could see just fine, and it shifted downwards to investigate the cause of his right hand being warm and clammy. He let out a soft sigh when he saw Ignis sound asleep, and he briefly forgot how he was still coming off the drugs and shook his head. Horror blossomed anew in him as, for a second or two, he was positive he was going to hurl on his poor hapless boyfriend. His head stopped spinning before his stomach could get too upset, but Gladio still let out a heavy groan.

“Fuckin’ hate drugs…”

Ignis snapped awake instantly, sitting up so suddenly that his neck seized up in protest after having been stuck in an awkward position for hours. Any attempts to speak were therefore obstructed by an involuntary hiss as he clutched the stiff and ornery thing in his free hand.

In an instant, Gladio was more concerned about his love’s discomfort than his own. His hand slid out of Ignis’s easily with how slippery they both were, and he nudged the young advisor’s hand off his complaining neck to replace it with his own. He kneaded Ignis’s neck gently and gave him a lopsided grin as Ignis relaxed back down. “Isn’t it usually the one sitting bedside telling the one in the bed not to sit up too quickly, babe?”

“Bloody stole my job,” Ignis muttered into his elbow, eyes wrenched shut with his emotional overload. “You were also supposed to remain asleep until I woke up.”

Gladio snorted. “After you’d had a long day and then rushed over here to see me? That wasn’t gonna happen.” He closed his eye and shook his head much more slowly than he had previously. “I have your schedule, Iggy. You got off work less than an hour after Noct’s and my run-in with the drunk, and before that you’d had, what, four—”

“Five.”

“FIVE meetings to sit through.” Gladio let out a heavy breath of combined amazement and exasperation. Who the hell even scheduled that many meetings in a single day? Like who the hell did he have to chew out for scheduling that many meetings, knowing full well that Ignis would sit through all five if there was any chance of him doing so? Or maybe it was some new guy who hadn’t met Ignis, aka Mr. How Do I Even Still Have An Ass When I Work It Off Every Damn Day. Granted, it was a nice ass, but—

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

—but fuck drugs and how hard they made it to focus on what (or who) was important. Gladio grumbled softly, venting his frustration by kneading Ignis’s neck a bit harder. Not enough to hurt—he wasn’t with it enough to put that much force into his grip, which was the only bright side he could see to being drugged to the moon and back—but plenty to make his boyfriend sag more heavily and struggle to hold back an undignified sound as the persistent knots in his neck were eased away. “What would you have done if you’d been there, Ignis?”

Ignis blinked his eyes open and stared blankly forward. There it was again. That damned question that he’d been trying to suss out the answer to all night and into the early morning before he passed out. He was no closer to knowing the answer now than he’d been previously, and the out-of-place but not unwelcome bliss of Gladio rubbing his stiff neck was the farthest from being helpful to that endeavor that anything could be. But Gladio wanted an answer, so Ignis tried to spit something out for him. “I-I—”

“I’ll tell you what you would have done,” Gladio interrupted in a gentle but firm tone. His question had been rhetorical, frankly. He knew Ignis better than anyone did, and that included Ignis himself. “You would have jumped between Noct and the drunk first because we swore the same oath to protect that kid and dammit, you’re faster than me no matter what I do. That means you would have been the one that got hurt, and you would have gotten hurt worse than I did because you’re not built to be a meat shield.”

Ignis furrowed his brow in dissension. How did Gladio know that was how it would have panned out? He didn’t. He was being dramatic. “You’re being—”

“Dramatic?” Gladio snorted. “Yeah, I am, because that’s the only way you’re gonna stop beating yourself up for not being there. Shut up and lemme finish.”

“Gladio—”

Ignis’s protest went ignored. “Then I would have gotten pissed, forgotten my oath to never harm any Crown City civilian unless they refused to back down, and that poor guy who wasn’t thinking straight because he was DRUNK would probably be in a full body cast right now. But I wouldn’t care because you’d be in this bed instead of me and I’d be too torn up about that to worry about the guy I wrecked because he hurt my Ignis.”

Gladio huffed at the mental picture, brow furrowing. "So I'm sorry, but I'm actually relieved you weren't there. Things would've been a hell of a lot worse if you'd been with us." He smiled sympathetically. "Noct's relieved it was just him and me, too. He knew you were gonna find a reason to be mad at yourself, but we were both in agreement over it being better that you were out of harm's way."

The expression on Ignis’s face shifted again, morphing into one of anguish rather than protest. Vivid green eyes focused pointedly on Gladio’s other hand and they weren’t tearing up, dammit. Ignis reached across Gladio’s lap with a ragged, shallow breath, clutching the Shield’s hand as he chewed at his lower lip.

Gladio let out his own breath, though his was an even and heavy sigh as he watched Ignis wage his internal mini-war. He knew he’d been harsh, and part of him regretted that, but for the most part he’d accepted it as a necessary evil. Ignis could rationalize himself into a mental breakdown in no time flat, and the only surefire way of stopping him was to perform the verbal equivalent of splashing him with a bucket of cold water. Gladio gently squeezed Ignis’s hand and waited patiently for Ignis to decide on his answer to the scenario he’d been told.

Silence fell over the room for a couple of minutes before Ignis broke it with a resigned exhale, chin settling on the bed. “...You bloody stole my job again.”

The solemn line of Gladio’s mouth broke into a soft smirk. “Which one this time, Iggy?”

“Voice of reason,” Ignis muttered as his eyes wrenched shut in a nonverbal display of his exasperation. “And you did it when you’re coming off anesthesia. The bloody hell am I doing as Noct’s advisor? Clearly you’re better-suited to it.”

Gladio snorted loudly, sliding his hand off of Ignis’s neck to pat his back. “No, I’m not. I'm only half-decent at it if my audience is reasonable, which Princess usually isn’t.”

Ignis couldn’t hold back a small scoff at that. “He’s not quite eighteen, love,” he scolded gently.

“You were TWICE as reasonable as him when you were SIXTEEN, so don’t even try that,” Gladio shot back without missing a beat.

“You’re not getting out of bed until the doctor clears you, Gladiolus,” Ignis replied simply, his tone stern as he looked into Gladio’s unobscured eye with both of his own, “and don’t even think about asking me to bring you dumbbells to work out with while you’re supposed to be resting.” It was his turn to smirk, and he took his turn gleefully. What a nice switching of roles this was, aside from why the roles had been switched.

Gladio could only stare in bewilderment at his boyfriend for a few seconds, then he pressed his unheld hand to the unbandaged side of his face as he busted up laughing. “You cheeky son of a bitch!”

“Don’t speak about my mother like that,” Ignis quipped, smiling wider despite the mock dismay in his voice.

“Fine.” The Shield dropped his hand onto Ignis’s back with a light thump, snorting at the way it forced a breath out of the smaller man’s lungs. “I’ll rest and let you take care of me.”

Ignis scoffed. “You’ll hold to that promise for two days and then I’ll have to bring your father in to lecture you.”

Gladio frowned. “Oh come on, I’m not THAT bad.”

“You resisted stitches and tried to leave last night.”

“He told you about that, huh?”

“Darling, he told me everything.”

“Shit.”

Ignis chuckled softly, then gingerly climbed onto the bed to lay beside him, only releasing his hand as long as was necessary. He rested his cheek on Gladio’s chest and let out a little sigh as his eyes closed. “Please go back to sleep, Sir.”

Gladio let out a choked noise, followed by a groan of protest. “You’re evil…”

“I’m clever,” Ignis corrected, pulling the collar of his shirt back just far enough to reveal the head of his scarlet kingsnake tattoo.

“Six in one—”

“Sleep.”

“Ignis—”

“I’ll call Clarus now if I must.”

“I hate you.”

“Mmn...doubtful.”

“Wanna b—”

“Last warning,” Ignis basically sung as he pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. “He’s on speed dial.”

Gladio let out an almighty sigh that dropped his broad shoulders as low as they were capable of going, throwing his head back along with it in a true show of resignation. “FINE.”

Ignis let out a satisfied hum, then tilted his head up to kiss Gladio’s scruffy chin. “What a good Sir.”

“I oughta spank you.”

“You promised you’d rest.”

“Later, then.”

“After the doctor clears you.”

“Not a second later.”

“At least wait until we’re alone.”

“Deal.” Gladio sighed one last time, then tugged his hand free of Ignis’s so he could wrap both arms around him in a gentle squeeze that still promised that Ignis couldn’t go anywhere even if he wanted to. 

Ignis didn’t want to go anywhere, and he made that much clear by nestling his head firmly under Gladio’s chin and curling his hands against Gladio’s chest with a contented sigh. “I love you so bloody much.”

“I know, Iggy,” Gladio murmured as he closed his eye. The haziness he’d so valiantly fought back in order to talk to Ignis came rushing back to pull him back into the oblivion of sleep all too quickly, and he let out a soft groan as his promise to Ignis forced him to yield to it. “Love you too…”

Ignis only remained awake a few minutes longer than Gladio, but he spent all of them thanking the stars above for protecting the man who was born to protect.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still not 100% on how to format these things. The paragraphs look too far apart with spacing and too close together without spacing. What do you guys prefer?
> 
> Also, lemme know if I missed any tags.


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